Doctor Who returns to full-time filming with Matt Smith

Shooting began today on the new season of Doctor Who with Matt Smith taking over the lead role under new writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat.

The BBC released the first glimpse of Smith’s costume — a professorial, period tweed ensemble complete with anachronistic bow tie (above). The outfit might be an effort to age The Doctor since, when the young Time Lord appears with assistant Amy Pond, the show looks a little like “Jim Henson’s Doctor Who Babies.”

The multi-award winning Moffat will shape the new Who as it enters its fifth season since Russell T. Davies rebooted the show. The new series will be the first full run since 2008 as this year offers only four special episodes featuring the final appearances of David Tennant (the rumoured Bilbo in the upcoming Hobbit films).

Fans theorise that Moffat will take the show in a darker direction and away from some of the more flamboyant elements of Davies’ run. But only time travel will tell.